Can Microsoft Windows 7 Edge out Android in Battle to Run iPad Killers?

Several computer manufacturers are planning to bring their own iPad killer tablet PCs to market. And as these iPad rivals get set to debut, the question is whether they will come with Windows 7 or with Android. Recent announcements seem to indicate that Microsoft is gaining an edge in the tablet OS battle.

Plans for "iPad killers" abound, and the question for each manufacturer is: Android or Windows 7? We know Windows 7 is gaining serious traction in the PC market and reviews are great. But, when it comes to the tablet, how will it fare? If recent announcements are any indication, Microsoft is winning the tablet OS battle.

Macworld is reporting that Micro-Star International (MSI), a Taiwanese-based laptop manufacturer, will be launching a Windows 7-based tablet at next week’s Computex Taipei electronics show. That tablet will be a replacement of what MSI originally intended – an Android-based tablet. Last year, MSI debuted a prototype tablet running Android, and then showed it again in January at the Consumer Electronics Show.

If the rumors about MSI are correct, that would make MSI the second Taiwanese-based device manufacturer to pting for Windows 7 over Android for tablets. Just last month, Asustek’s CEO said the company's first tablet PC, the Eee Pad, will run on Microsoft software instead of a Google OS. Acer, the second largest PC-manufacturer in the world, also recently denied rumors that it would be launching a new device with Google Chrome next week at Computex.

That’s more bad news for Google, which is slowly starting to feel the pangs of its fall from media darling to just another evil corporate behemoth. Add the international uproar around privacy encroachments with Google Street View and it has been a rough couple of weeks for the search giant. But, it isn’t all bad.

Just yesterday, Dell unveiled the Streak (formerly known as the Mini 5), a 5-inch Android-based touchscreen tablet device that will run on the UK’s 02 network in early June, and will then be released across Europe and the US through the end of the summer.

HP is on board with Android, too, most likely as a result of its Palm acquisition. The company announced at the end of April it was dropping Microsoft’s Windows 7 for its Slate tablet, and would instead rely on Android. HP encountered hardware performance issues, it said.

And, Android, did edge out Apple in Q1 of this year for new device acquisition among consumers.